Are you the type of woman who spends the last 30 minutes of her mornings searching for her keys, wallet, and assorted essentials?  How about the woman who spends an extra ten minutes outside of her building trying to remember whether or not she turned off her straightener?  What about the woman who loses her iPhone, is momentarily assuaged by the beauty of modern technology, only to find out that the app her friends all joked she had to have on her phone last Friday night out, was in fact Find My iPhone and yes, you forgot to download that as well?  Needless to say, I’m all three and then some.

10.9 TW

Purchase your To-Do Notebook at Anthropologie, $2.95

I’ve spent about 60% of my life either lost, looking for something, or preemptively obsessing over items, appointments, and dates I will forget at some point in the future.  To say the least, anxiety has been my go-to wardrobe for the past 23 years.

When I first entered the work world, I did a halfway decent job of hiding my less than favorable organizational habits.  Similar to college, I kept track of what I could in my iPhone and left everything else to the devices of my mental calendar.  When scheduling went awry, I found simple solutions.  Unfortunately, it turns out 'make-up lunches' and Starbucks peace offerings aren’t the most financially responsible routes to stable work relationships.

Now before you judge my sham of a life schedule, I do want to salvage what I can of my self-pride by saying I definitely did make an attempt to alter my habits.  I bought app after app trying to up the ante on my personal reminders.  I spent an obscene amount of money on a leather monogramed personal planner.  I even attempted to purchase a wall size white board in hopes of infusing some top level Type A organization into my life, but nothing seemed to truly stick.  I had to remind my self to enter the dates, then remind my phone to set an alarm, erase and exchange appointments as needed, and even worse, create a completely arbitrary color coding process for the events as they filtered through my 'new and improved system.'  It was mayhem.  And after about a week or so of giving each method a go, I would revert back to my old, comfortable and financially irresponsible ways.  

That is, until a notepad and a ball point pen changed my life.  Okay, well it’s not that serious, but it truly did make a change for the better.  After 6 months, of 'token friend whose always forgetting something' rehab I’ve come to the conclusion that behind every sane savvy business woman…is one hell of a to-do list.

You see, the beauty of the list, is that it is inherently messy and yet, entirely forgiving.  I had one place where I could finally combine my work and social spheres, and for the first time in my life, I found a method that was not only habitual but compatible with my arbitrary methods of madness.  

1) Why Lists?

With major publications such as David Allen’s Getting Things Done (2001) singing the To-Do List praises, the correlation between lists and overall productivity pretty much speaks for itself.  How about this?  Ever wonder why your morning begins with misplacing the keys and quickly transpires into a lost wallet, a forgotten lunch, and an unlocked front door?  A natural human tendency, also known as the Ziegarnick effect, suggests that people commonly fixate on uncompleted tasks and subsequently forget those very same tasks once they have been completed.  Thus, by eliminating individual tasks on our to-do list, we can focus more effectively on other tasks at hand.  So much so, that the literal act of crossing out an item off of our list, consequently gives our brain 'permission' to move on with the rest of our day.  In short, we’re hard wired for to-do lists.  So drop the excuses and jump on the bandwagon my friend.

2) Making Lists Work 

When it comes to lists, the magic word is always going to be consistency.  If you want results, you’ve got to make it a habit and I mean in every sense of the word.  So first things first, choose a notepad.  Not notepads, not a binder and a personal organizer, not an iCalendar, a notepad — singular and old fashioned.  Oh and make it look nice.  Don’t buy the one that looks like the front of a third grader’s lunch box to save a buck, people are going to see it and if you’re too embarrassed to use it…it won’t work!

Then, the fun begins.  Adopt a style.  Are you a numbers woman?  Or are you the type that likes to cross lines off your list?  How about checking off boxes for that added sense of accomplishment?  Whatever your style may be, own it to the fullest.  Whenever you make a list, they should be in this format.  It’ll be a pain at first, yes, but it’s going to save you time down the road.  You’ll take notes faster, and reference previous conversations/commitments more efficiently.  

Last but not least, hone in on that timing.  As you’ve already come to see, I forget almost immediately, so I take notes in the moment.  Others may work best with check ins, once in the morning, once at lunch, and once in the evening.

Quick tip: If you know you have a big day ahead, make your to-do list the night before.  After you’ve finished, recite your list aloud before going to sleep.  Enacting both visual and audible memory pathways will increase your chances of remembering fine details come morning!

3) Putting your Actions Where Your Pen Is

In short, put your actions where your pen is and get to work.  Begin by breaking down your to-do list into actions not overarching projects.  Sure, the tendency is to keep the list as short as possible, but without the specificity, it will take about four times as long to cross the items off your list and you’ll run the risk of losing your momentum.  Do not walk in fear of the three-page list!  You’ll get through it far faster than you think.

DON’T: Update PowerPoint presentation

DO: 

  • Check grammar on Slide 1
  • Update photographs (Slide 34, 35)
  • Confirm 'Key Takeways' with the team

4) Taking Some Responsibility

That’s right, the first step is admitting you have a problem, a 30 minutes late, always semi-unprepared, and ultimately selfish problem.  Yes, there are certainly times when you’re going to drop the ball and that is okay, perfection is boring and entirely overrated.  However, if that seems to be happening more than three or four times a week, you have to ask yourself how your actions are inflating the problem.  So by all means, if you want to bring some order to your life, take on the lists, but leave a little bit of time in there for self reflection.  In this case, your words are only as good as your actions.

So yes, sometimes simple really does just work.  You don’t have to have a crazy monster outlook calendar or a perfected Post-it note system of priorities to find some order in your life.  Ultimately, organization is a choice, and as someone who completely equates a little bit of mess to a whole lot of creative genius, not all messes are created equal.  So do yourself, and those amazing friends who told you to download the iPhone app three months ago a favor, and let go of a little bit of control for a world of easy breathing and stable Mint spending reports.  Who knows, there might even be an early arrival in your list savvy future.

 

Amina is a Chicago-based blogger/writer who works as an advertising strategist in her free time. She graduated from Amherst College in May of 2013 with a degree in American Studies and is still very much in the process of decoding the post grad life on a daily basis. If you like what you’ve read on bSmart Guide, feel free to check out more of her work on her personal blog Yours Exceptionally or for post grad advice on the go, follow her on Twitter @Amina_Taylor. 

 

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